Charlotte Dunwiddie papers, 1907-1995
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Overview
- Description
- The Charlotte Dunwiddie papers consist of biographical materials documenting Dunwiddie, her husbands, her parents, and her grandparents; correspondence among Dunwiddie and her family and friends during and after World War II; printed materials documenting Charlotte and Stanley Dunwiddie’s lives in Peru; restitution and property files, including architectural drawings and maps, relating to Dunwiddie’s efforts to receive compensation for inherited property in Germany that had been held in trust for her stepfather during the war so that it would not be seized as Jewish property; and four family
photographs.
Biographical materials include birth, baptismal, marriage, divorce, registration, and death certificates and identification and immigration papers documenting Charlotte Dunwiddie’s life in Germany, France, Spain, Peru, and America; her stepfather’s imprisonment in Sachsenhausen; her relationships with her husbands; and her father’s and grandparents’ Catholicism. This series also includes inventories of the sculptures Dunwiddie created.
Correspondence files include two postcards to Else Hanau from Adolf Hanau while he was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen; letters from Charlotte’s family in Berlin describing their lives in Berlin and efforts to emigrate; correspondence between Charlotte and her second husband describing the circumstances of their brief marriage; correspondence between Charlotte and her friends describing postwar life in Berlin, Lima, and elsewhere; and correspondence enclosing a student paper about Dunwiddie by Marion Morton.
Printed materials include clippings and a scrapbook containing articles relating to the lives of Charlotte and Stanley Dunwiddie in Peru and his death in Ohio.
The collection includes four family photographs that appear to depict Charlotte and Stanley Dunwiddie.
Restitution and property files include architectural drawings and maps related to Dunwiddie’s inherited property in Berlin, Köln, and Düsseldorf; correspondence with Louis Helkenberg and Lestor Nelson who helped Dunwiddie with her property and financial claims; and land records, leases, legal documents, and sales agreements related to the property. - Date
-
inclusive:
1907-1995
- Collection Creator
- Charlotte Dunwiddie
- Biography
-
Charlotte (Liselotte, Carlotta) Dunwiddie (1907-1995) was born Elizabeth Charlotte Eugenia Natalie Klein in Strasbourg to Walter Karl Klein and Else Klein (née Mayer, 1885-1942). After her parents' divorce, she was adopted by her stepfather, Adolf Hanau (1878-1942), and studied art in Berlin. She married her first husband, Richard Arthur Wolff (1890-1939), in 1929, left Berlin shortly after his death, and continued to study art in Paris and Madrid. She was briefly married to Donald McClean, moved to Buenos Aires, married D. Stanley Dunwiddie (1908-1951), and lived with him in Lima, Peru, until his sudden death in 1951. She moved to New York, continued her career in sculpture, and became the first woman president of the National Sculpture Society. Adolf Hanau was imprisoned for a month in Sachsenhausen following Kristallnacht and perished at Auschwitz in November 1942. Else Klein died in the Jewish hospital in Berlin in June 1942 and her mother, Babette Mayer, perished at Theresienstadt in December 1942.
Physical Details
- Extent
-
1 box
1 oversize box
11 oversize folders
- System of Arrangement
- The Charlotte Dunwiddie papers are arranged as five series: I. Biographical materials, 1907-1995, II. Correspondence, 1938-1989, III. Photographs, approximately 1920-1975, IV. Printed materials, approximately 1945-1995, V. Restitution and property files, 1921-1995
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- Material(s) in this collection may be protected by copyright and/or related rights. You do not require further permission from the Museum to use this material. The user is solely responsible for making a determination as to if and how the material may be used.
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Women sculptors. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Reparations. Jewish property--Germany--Berlin. Jewish property--Germany--Cologne. Jewish property--Germany--Düsseldorf. Real property--Germany--Berlin. Real property--Germany--Cologne. Real property--Germany--Düsseldorf. Jews--Germany--Berlin.
- Geographic Name
- Germany--Emigration and immigration--History--1933-1945. Berlin (Germany) Madrid (Spain) Lima (Peru)
- Corporate Name
- Sachsenhausen (Concentration camp)
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The Smithsonian Institution Archives of American Art transferred the Charlotte Dunwiddie papers to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1997.
- Funding Note
- The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
- Record last modified:
- 2023-06-02 08:46:25
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn501821
Additional Resources
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In-Person Research
- Available for Research
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-
Request in Shapell Center Reading Room
Bowie, MD
